Category: Celebrities

Pop princess Britney Spears walked off stage tonight in Vancouver, BC, at her GM Place concert, claiming that the air was too smoky for her to perform. The nicotine fit came only three songs into the show when an announcement was made asking everyone to butt out, literally. (See the evidence for yourself in the YouTube video below – thanks to Chris B for posting).

Apparently, it was less about the prima donna and more about the marijuana as later reports reveal that the stage hands working above the set were apparently choking from the fumes. Spears eventually came back on some 40 minutes later to a much different crowd who were still wondering if the stunt was real or, like most of her singing, just imagined.

The entire episode raises several issues.

First up – It is hard to believe that her stage hands were choking from pot smoke. Have you seen the amount of smoke (and mirrors) she uses? No wonder she has to lip sync. Who can breath with all that raging fire and brimstone. If it was a real ventilation problem, they would have announced it as such, but this was different (judge for yourself from the YouTube video).

Secondly – I know Vancouver is a pot smoking town. There were probably a fair share of legal cigarettes lit too. But as a true non-smoker (in every sense of the word), even I have survived an Ozzy Osbourne or AC/DC concert without hacking up a lung. Yes, the smell is bad, but isn’t Britney a cigarette smoker to begin with?

Also, who exactly was in this crowd? I thought Britney was a teen dream/drag queen favourite. Judging by the colourful characters roaming the streets downtown tonight, the only dangerous substance being abused was hair glitter. The regular reefer madness crowd was safely tucked away at home in mom’s basement playing X-Box.

Lastly – who is in charge of concerts at GM Place? Not that I think Spears doesn’t love the drama of it all, but divas of this magnitude have contracts and riders that management must uphold or else. In other words, if Britney was expecting a non-smoking stadium, then she deserves to get a non-smoking stadium. I have the expectation of a non-smoking stadium (and I also think it’s the law too), but something tells me that I’d get thrown out faster than the pot smokers if I complained to security that someone was smoking in my row at a show.

Oh, what the heck. If millions of people can turn a blind eye to Britney pretending to be a singer, then I guess it’s only reasonable that security turn a blind eye to illegal drug use during concerts. Hey – I wonder what’s going to happen at the snowboarding event at the 2010 Olympics?

So Britney . . . when ya coming back to Vancouver?